Skilled Manufacturing Inc. has teamed up with local radio stations Lite 96.3 and 106 KHQ to collect gently used or new coats and other winter items for a community coat drive.
Donations of winter coats, hats, mittens, scarves, boots and more will be accepted through Nov. 2 at Skilled Manufacturing, 3680 Cass Road. Monetary donations also can be sent to Skill Manufacturing and will be used to purchase winter items for local families in need.
On Nov. 3 from 8 a.m. to noon, all donations will be available at no charge to families in need of warm winter outerwear. For more information, call Ronda Jonas of Skilled Manufacturing, 935-9829.
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Walt Disney was right, it really is a small world after all. Just ask two young men who attended Norris Elementary School in Elmwood Township in the mid-1980s.
William Hargreaves and Pete Shoemaker were in school together at Norris until the Hargreaves moved to Albuquerque, N.M. in 1987. William graduated from La Cueva High School in Albuquerque in 1992 and went on to attend the U.S. Naval Academy, where he ran into Pete. Although not friends in the strictest sense of the word, they did see each other occasionally.
William graduated from the academy in 1997. Pete graduated in 1998. Both went on to flight school. William became a helicopter pilot. Pete is a fixed-wing pilot.
William is on his third deployment and currently is on the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier, which is in the Persian Gulf providing air support to ground forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. William flies helicopters from the deck of the aircraft carrier to protect the fleet/battle group and rescue downed pilots. Recently his roommate was transferred and his new roomie is ... Pete Shoemaker, who is a jet pilot flying from the deck of the Enterprise putting himself in harm's way every day.
"Two boys growing up in Elmwood Township, going to Norris, later in their lives attending and graduating from the Naval Academy, meeting up again as pilots and naval officers in a battle group in far-off waters ... doing very demanding jobs in service to their country," wrote Michael T. Hargreaves of Holt, Mo. "Elmwood was/is a good place to bring up boys."
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Melissa Millis of Traverse City wrote to express her gratitude to the Wuerfels, DJ Jazzy Jason, the staff at Wuerfel Park and the Beach Bums team for a great and memorable season.
Melissa and her family had the opportunity to attend quite a few games this year and wrote that the Wuerfuls have provided a wonderful facility for fans of all ages and send a special thank you for providing such a great facility for the handicapped.
Melissa's grandparents came up from Muskegon for the final game of the season, which was their first game.
"My grandpa is in a wheelchair and my grandparents said it was the best and most fun ballpark they've ever been to," Melissa wrote. "Thank-you to the gentleman working closing night who helped with my grandpa without anyone asking (and) again a very heartfelt thanks ... for a great season and many more memories to come."
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Five hundred women from the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico attended the Northeast Regional Conference of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, a professional society of key women educators. In keeping with the conference theme, "Wisdom to Share, Passion to Care," attendees donated hundreds of new books to the Friends of the Traverse Area District Library-Long Lake Branch, according to Linda Lishawa from the Long Lake Branch Library.
The books were distributed to various social service agencies in the Grand Traverse area. Organizations that received boxes of donated books were the Northwest Michigan Human Services for Head Start needs, the Grand Traverse Baby Pantry, the Goodwill Inn for use by children and teens, and the Women's Resource Center for children in shelter homes.
Linda wrote that comments by agencies receiving the books ranged from "What an excellent selection of books" and "What beautiful books" to "Children are already taking them off the shelves to read."
"This (was a) heartwarming gift in the purest sense, the benefactors being simply people in need in the Traverse City area," Linda wrote. "Our library group accepted this gift at the conference. Ann Laurimore organized the collection and distribution of the books."
Items for this column may be sent to Northern Notes, Record-Eagle, P.O. Box 632, Traverse City, MI 49685-0632; e-mail sbeach@record-eagle.com.
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